Bake sales to pay for field trips are giving way to online giving, fairs and businesses donating percentages of their sales as parents raise money to pay teacher salaries and save sports and art programs from budget cuts.
“We see an ever-increasing need for parents to go above and beyond the call of duty,” says Chuck Saylors, 50, president of the National PTA (Parent Teacher Association). “School districts can’t keep the cuts out of the classrooms.”
“Really, we shouldn’t have to be put in this position,” says Melissa Neumann, 39, who has two children in Cupertino, Calif., schools. “We shouldn’t have to fundraise basically for the core curriculum: reading, writing and math.”
Still, she and others say they’ll do what they can:
• In Cupertino in the Silicon Valley, parents have collected $1.6 million, close to the $2 million they hope to raise by Saturday, to save the jobs of 110 teachers. The district of 18,000 children needs to close a $7.3 million budget shortfall next year.
The parents have asked every household in the community to donate $375. They got businesses to donate a portion of their sales on given days.
• In Mokena, Ill., outside Chicago, parents want to raise $250,000 by December to keep 48 sports and other activities, including band and after-school tutoring. The district of 2,100 students needs to cut $2 million from its budget next year. The parents have raised $27,000 with movie nights, concerts, car washes and fairs.
• In Portage, Mich., parents have $10,000 of the $1.3 million they need by June 2011 to offset state cuts that forced the district of 8,700 to end school a week early and offer teachers early retirement.
Educators applaud the efforts, but they say fundraising to operate schools is not sustainable.
“You have the funding for one year and then what?” says Dan Domenech, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators.
He warns fundraising will widen the opportunity gap between affluent and low-income children.
The National PTA discourages parents from raising money for school operations, Saylors says. He says parents need to hold officials accountable.
Goals can be hard to reach. Parents in Woodcliff Lake, N.J., tried to raise $186,000 to save three teachers. They got $30,000, not enough for one job, says Elizabeth Neve Calderone, 42, a mother of two.
“It’s disappointing,” Calderone says. “We don’t want to be dipping into our pockets any more than we have to, but if it means saving a teacher or two, we’ll do it.”
Parents stepping in to help raise more money for schools
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